1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a driver monitoring device, system and method for determining and responding to fatigue and/or inattention of the driver.
2. Description of Related Art
The N.T.S.B. has reported statistics which indicate that 31% of all fatal-to-the-truck driver accidents occur due to fatigue/inattention and 58% of all single-vehicle large truck crashes were also fatigue related. If these numbers can be reduced, so can the number of serious and fatal accidents.
Commercial drivers drive long hours each day and up to 70 hours per week. Such driving occurs throughout all hours of a day: daylight, dusk and night. Fatigue has long been a problem for commercial drivers. Fatigue is cumulative; without proper rest periods, or “off-duty” cycles, fatigue will “accumulate” in the human body and eventually create moments when the driver has to struggle to stay awake. Once this occurs, the overall performance of the driver is greatly compromised.
The Department of Transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board as well as N.H.T.S.A. have collectively invested millions of dollars in researching driver fatigue. Statistics show that over two decades, 30% to 40% of all serious accidents involving heavy trucks are in some way related to fatigue or inattention. Since driver fatigue can only be controlled to an extent, one object of this invention is to detect when the driver is falling asleep or becomes inattentive.
Prior attempted solutions to this problem have included integrated systems that monitor the steering input behavior of the driver during a specified period of time. If the number of steering inputs falls below the expected predetermined threshold, the system activates an alarm, such as an audible alarm and/or light in the cab, waking and/or stimulating the driver. Conversely, according to one proposed solution, if the steering input exceeds an expected predetermined threshold, the system activates the alarm. According to such proposed solutions, the system can deactivate cruise control and/or activate various other systems/components connected with the system to further aid in the control of the vehicle and/or to alert nearby motorists.